“BULL AND BEAR TACTICS”

Manawatu Times, Volume LIII, Issue 6755, 7 November 1928, Page 10

“BULL AND BEAR TACTICS”

LONDON MERCHANT’S DENTAL. CAUSE OP PRICE FLUCTUATION An erroneous impression frequently expressed in Now Zealand that concerted “bull and bear” movements were quite general on the English markets was contradicted by Mr. A. O. Rowson, a Tooley Street merchant, when in the Taranaki district.

The question asked ' was whether anything could be done, short of the farmers controlling their produce in London, to avoid tho breaking of the market by firms which, on a falling market, sold out quickly. Such firms, it was suggested to Mr. Rowson, frequently showed better returns than those which, in the interests of the farmers, tried to sustain the market. The reply was that tho considerable fluctuations in price noticeable in certain intervals during tho season were tho result mainly of the buyer rather than of any concerted action on tho port of tho sellers. Buyers’ views of the market were governed largely by sentiment. Sentiment developed by the trend of trade conditions at home and abroad. Such factors were statistics of stock, shipments, production, industrial conditions, .consumptive demand, competition of other foodstuffs, competitive varieties and a host of other matters. All the factors were available through the various { channels of information.

In the majority of cases tho buyers formed tho same conclusions from the information before them, and acted accordingly. Very frequently tho major-, ity was wrong, as the production taken into consideration had a knack of varying considerably as time went on. It was tho majority of these factors in conjunction with a considerable valuation of production and consumption from day to day throughout tho world, which brought about a continual and sometimes apparently erratic fluctuation in market price. Its effect, however, was to exactly balance tho quanity of produce manufactured with the quantity consumed.